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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29015061">Rage and Love</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/American_Eulogy/pseuds/American_Eulogy'>American_Eulogy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Umbrella Academy (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Angst, Child Abuse, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Mental Instability, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Punk Rock, Sibling Bonding, Vanya is Number Eight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 13:07:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>21,937</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29015061</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/American_Eulogy/pseuds/American_Eulogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>On the 12th hour of the first day of October 1989, 43 women around the world gave birth. This was unusual only in the fact that none of these women had been pregnant when the day first began. Sir Reginald Hargreeves, eccentric billionaire and adventurer, resolved to locate and adopt as many of the children as possible.<br/>He got eight of them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Introduction</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>San Francisco, California.<br/>October 1st, 1989<br/>11:55 a.m.</p><p>A group of five young women were walking down the slanted sidewalks with the sun high in the sky as noon was slowly rolling around. They were chatting loudly, bumping into each other playfully, today was the day they've been waiting for for months as they managed to get their hands on Black Flag tickets. These tickets were expensive already, buying them off some lousy scalper meant they had to pay ten times the amount of the box office, but seeing as this was a band the group of punks wanted to see since they were younger how could they refuse?</p><p>"Ah, hold on," one of the girls said as she looked down and noticed that her boot laces came undone during their walk. Everyone stopped walking to wait for her to tie up the laces, talking about how amazing the concert was going to be.</p><p>Everything had been fine the entire time they've been hanging out, so what went wrong?</p><p>Sam let out a shallow sigh as she pressed her back against the brick wall they were standing in front of. A sudden pain shot through her lower abdomen, a pain that she's never felt before. What was going on? Why today? Why the day of the concert?</p><p>"Hey… you alright?" One of Sam's friends asked her, noticing how pale she became. The rest of the group turned their attention to her just as she slumped down onto the sidewalk letting out a blood-curdling scream.</p><p>"Sam?" They all gathered around her as she wrapped her arms around her stomach, leaning forward feeling as though she was about to throw up.</p><p>Unfortunately, there wasn't a way for any of the girls to call an ambulance and they had no idea what happened, she was fine just minutes before. Sam wasn't able to answer any of their questions through the pain she was going through, it felt like her insides were being ripped apart. She could feel herself going into shock, her entire body was trembling, it didn't take long until her vision faded, the last thing she remembered was the pain slowly fading and her friends calling out for her.</p><hr/><p>A week went back since the incident with Sam on the way to the concert, thankfully someone in their home heard her screams and called an ambulance for them. The group of girls were left speechless as their friend was taken into the ambulance and raced off to the hospital, all that mattered was that she was getting the help she needed for whatever happened. Little did they know that while in the ambulance Sam was actively giving birth. The strange thing? There was no chance of her being pregnant, and she certainly was not pregnant when the day began. Turns out this didn't only happen to Sam, forty-three other women around the world also gave birth while not pregnant.</p><p>Seeing how shaken up Sam was over this traumatic event, the hospital kept her in for almost a week to make sure she was mentally sound when leaving with the child. Sam didn't ask for this, she didn't want anything to do with the baby and the nurses were well aware of that, in fact, she always made sure to take extra precautions when having sex to avoid this situation. Most days she didn't touch the child, letting it cry in its hospital crib that was always next to the bed, the nurses were the ones who had to come in and care for the child. They've tried everything to get her to see that it was a miracle and she should at least try to bond with him. No dice. Sam wasn't in the place to take care of and raise a child, she was still in college and living in the dorms with her friends. She had no money, a minimum wage job, no family, and nowhere to go, so what was she supposed to do? She now had a son and an outrageous hospital bill. Imagine her surprise when Sir Reginald Hargreeves invited himself to see her while she was recovering.</p><p>"Extraordinary!" The man said loudly as he entered the hospital room upon seeing the dark-haired child laying in the crib. Without acknowledging Sam, he walked up to the child who was sleeping soundly.</p><p>To be fair, Sam didn't acknowledge him either, thinking that it was a doctor or another nurse coming in to tell her to cheer up and take care of this child. She didn't even turn to face him, keeping her back towards the baby that she couldn't even look at. Reginald finally looked over at the woman lying in the hospital bed, straightening his posture as he rounded the bed to talk to her face to face.</p><p>"How much?" He simply asked. No introductions, no how are you's, only straight to business. He already had six others purchased with another one to look at after this.</p><p>Sam forced herself to look up at him, not sure if she heard him properly or not. "What?" She asked with a cracked voice.</p><p>"The child. How much do you want for it?"</p><p>"How… much?"</p><p>Reginald was losing his patience, he wanted to buy it and go, he didn't have time for these games. "Yes, yes! How much?" He pulled out a checkbook from his inside coat pocket, clicking a pen. "Name your price."</p><p>Sam only blinked at him. Was this a trick? Or was he being serious? Could she be free of this responsibility so easily without being guilted out of adoption? Even if it was a joke she needed to try…</p><p>"Hospital bills."</p><p>It was Reginald's turn to be confused. The other mothers asked for large sums of money and this poor girl only wanted her hospital bills cleared? What a steal.</p><p>He held out his hand to her. "Deal."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Our Big Debut</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>In five… four… three… two…</em>
</p><p>"This is Jim Hellerman, reporting live for Channel 2 News outside of the Capital West bank at Main and Sixth. A group of heavily armed men stormed into the bank not three hours ago and took an unknown number of hostages."</p><p>Helicopters were swarming the area, the sounds of their blades cycling through the air was enough for everyone to have to yell over them so they could be heard. Even with the news of the hostage situation at the bank that didn't stop the crowd of people standing around to watch what was about to happen. It didn't help that there were at least three different news outlets on the scene trying to break the news first to boost their ratings. The situation was already awful, the media and the crowds were only making it worse for both the police and the hostages inside if the armed men saw that any one of them was deemed a threat. With the commotion going on outside nobody noticed the six children in uniforms and masks over their eyes ran towards the back of the bank.</p><p>Six of the total seven children in their usual school uniforms stood at the locked back door, while the taller blond boy climbed up on the large electrical distribution box that was pressed up against the back of the bank. Since he was the only one of the six who was able to climb up to high places, he went ahead of his siblings. It was almost like a game to them, even though they were aware that the people being held hostage inside the bank were in real distress they wanted to see who could get inside first. The short girl smacked the taller boy with the untamable fluffy black hair on his shoulder. The only way to open the door was to input a code on the keypad.</p><p>"Hurry up, Elijah," the girl hissed.</p><p>"Gimmie a second," Elijah snapped back as he flexed his hand and fingers as he needed to get his power charged. "Unlike you guys I can't do it on command."</p><p>Elijah held up his now glowing blue hand, the bones were outlined as his power was starting to activate. Apparently, this was still taking too long for Five's liking. He pushed Diego to the side before running towards the locked door, if his siblings didn't know any better, they would have thought he was going to slam against the door. He activated his power at the last second, transporting him inside the bank without his siblings.</p><p>Diego glanced up to where Luther was still climbing the bank walls, more than anything he wanted to beat him getting inside. It was a petty game, but he always wanted to best Luther. They were always bumping heads, so it was no surprise.</p><p>"Can y-you go any fast-faster?"</p><p>Elijah rolled his eyes at his impatient brothers, yeah, the action would be exciting but if they stopped bothering him they would've been inside already. Small blue sparks flickered from his fingertips, his irises went from their normal green to a bright glowing blue as his body sent the electricity through to the keypad, instantly short-circuiting it. The door clicked, indicating that it was now unlocked. Allison opened the door, skipping inside with her hands behind her back as if it was a casual trip to the bank than a crime scene.</p><p>The security alarms were ringing loudly throughout the bank as everyone else made their way inside. They stayed back a moment to see what Allison was up to, they rather have one of them go in first as not to seem suspicious, besides, if anything got out of hand they would step in.</p><p>"Hey, get them behind the counter!" A large man who was pointing a gun at the hostages said to a couple of his buddies while a phone was pressed up to his ear. "Now you put me in a position where I gotta do something I don't want to do. …Shit!" He hung up the phone as he turned around, startled to see the young girl standing there with a smile on her face. Was she in the bank before? The man couldn't remember, he was too focused on both the hostages and the police on the phone. "Get back with the others," he demanded of Allison.</p><p>"I heard a rumor…" Allison started, looking up at the man with an innocent look as if she could do no wrong.</p><p>"What did you say?" The man asked, not sure if he heard her correctly. This was a serious situation and this kid wanted to play games with him? No way.</p><p>Allison leaned in closer to the man, putting a hand up next to her mouth. "I heard a rumor… that you shot your friend in the foot," she said quickly. She smiled before taking a step back to not get caught in the crossfire.</p><p>The man felt numb, almost like he was on a cloud, the actions that his body was doing was not of his own doing. The words kept echoing in his mind… <em>shot your friend in the foot… shot your friend in the foot… shot your friend in the foot…</em></p><p>It was as though muscle memory took over the man as he cocked the gun he was holding, slowly pointing it at one of his heist mates that happened to be walking by. When they made eye contact it was like the man was looking through his friend, not even hearing him calling to see what was going on.</p><p>"Dude…? What the hell?"</p><p>Just as the words left his lips, the man shot him in the foot, just as Allison's rumor said. The gunshot echoed along with the man's groans of pain as he fell to the floor, accidentally discharging his own weapon against the bank teller window. Glass flew everywhere, the hostages who were sitting underneath the window cowered in fear while shielding their faces to prevent the glass from getting in their eyes. It wasn't the gunshots that broke the man free from Allison's spell, but the handful of screams coming from the hostages. He looked down at the pistol he was holding then to his friend, not sure what the hell just happened or what compelled him to shot him. What was it that girl said to him again?</p><p>With no time at all to process what happened at the moment, glass from above shattered into hundreds of pieces as someone fell through, landing behind the desk where another set of hostages were. Luther jumped up quickly from his fall, grabbing a man who had originally been pointing a gun at the innocent people and slamming his head against the desk as hard as he could. With a little added flavor, Luther threw the armed robber from out the nearest window, sending him tumbling on the concrete stairs below. If the hit didn't take him out, that fall certainly did.</p><p>Diego pulled out two of his favorite knives from his back pocket, peeking out around the corner to see who was left out on the floor. The only siblings he had near him was Klaus, Ben, and Elijah. He had a fun idea.</p><p>"Charge 'em," Diego told Elijah as he held up his two knives, making absolutely sure that he was holding on tightly to the rubber ends so he wouldn't get electrocuted.</p><p>"Not even a please…" Elijah scoffed as he wrapped his hands around both bases of the knives. His hands glowed once more as the electric currents moved effortlessly to the metal. His power was tiring, so he was happy to offer this much to help in the fight. "They're good for two minutes," he explained as he let go of the blades.</p><p>Ben, Klaus, and Elijah moved out from their hiding spot with Diego, they watched as he ran across the room welding the two electrified knives. This was something they've never done before, so they were interested to see if it would actually have much of an effect.</p><p>"Guns are for sissies, real men throw knives," Diego called out to the remaining robbers on the floor.</p><p>Before they had time to react, Diego threw the knives. He flung them forward as hard as he could throw them, it had appeared they were just going to keep going straight on just as he'd thrown them, but in a split second, they jerked to the left, plunging themselves into the chest of the robber to the side. His body jerked and twitched from the electricity that entered his chest. The gun he was holding discharged involuntarily due to his muscles contracting, thankfully it was pointed at the floor and wasn't seen as a huge threat.</p><p>The robber than Allison used her power against stood up on top of the desk that Luther was still standing behind with the hostages, pointing his gun at the group of children in front of him. This was a joke, right? A dream maybe? How was it possible that these children had powers? Whether or not this was a dream he needed to get control of the situation right now. It was supposed to be a simple job, go in at the bank at the least busy time, wave some guns around and take the money.</p><p>"Get back, now!" He shouted at the children who were giggling and making fun of him.</p><p>"Hey, be careful up there, buddy," Diego mocked. None of them saw him as a threat, the only thing they were concerned about was making sure none of the hostages get hurt.</p><p>"Yeah, we wouldn't want you to get hurt," Allison added with a small laugh.</p><p>"Or what?" Five asked, suddenly sitting on the desk behind the man. He looked up at the robber with a smug look as he jumped in surprise. Now, where did <em>this one </em>come from?</p><p>No time to think, the robber pulled the trigger, but as soon as he did the boy was gone, almost as if he vanished into thin air. How was that possible? Now his eyes were playing tricks on him too? He pulled the trigger a few more times out of pure frustration even though he knew there wasn't anyone there now.</p><p>He turned around to see the same child now standing behind him with his arms folded over his chest as if he was getting bored with the fight. These kids… monsters… things were getting on the robber's nerves now. He pointed what originally was the gun at him and 'pulled the trigger,' the trigger being a staple gun.</p><p>Five looked at the replaced weapon before looking back up at the robber. "Ooh! That's one badass stapler!" He grabbed his wrist, slamming the stapler into his forehead, causing a gash to rip open on his forehead. The blunt force of the hit was enough for the robber to collapse onto the floor.</p><p>"Go, Ben," Klaus started, "be a hero." He grabbed his brother's shoulders, turning him so he was facing the door that led into the vault.</p><p>"Do we really have to do this?" Ben whined, looking back at his siblings who were all waiting for him to make his move.</p><p>"C'mon, Ben. There's more guys in the vault," Luther told him.</p><p>Ben let out a sigh, slowly turning so he was looking at the door before him. "I didn't sign up for this…" He slowly grabbed the doorknob, turning it, and went inside.</p><p>Well… Ben's power wasn't exactly pretty, so the others took the time to lead the hostages who were still wrapped up in tape to the exit so they could make their way to safety. From what they could see none of them were harmed, so that was half of their mission completed, now it was Ben's turn to wrap it up.</p><p>From the slightly transparent glass of the vault, the siblings could see Ben's power being unleashed. Large tentacles were crashing through the room, screaming followed suit along with blood being splattered on the windows. Yeah… not pretty at all.</p><p>The six children waited for the beast to be contained and for Ben to come back out. It wasn't anything new to them, but they knew if anyone else saw Ben's Horror form they would be horrified. The bank was completely silent for a moment before the door slowly opened, stepping out was a blood-covered Ben.</p><p>"Can we go home now?" Ben asked his siblings in a shaky voice.</p><p>Just like the others, using his power for too long would wear him out, he seemed to get drained more quickly though. Based on what he has contained it wasn't a surprise that he could only use Horror for a short period.</p><p>"<em>People are coming out now, it's not the armed robbers…" </em>the news reporter said into the mic as he watched as the children came out of the bank with smiles on their faces. <em>"These are young schoolchildren in uniforms with masks on," </em>he explained to those watching at home.</p><p>As they practiced for years, the children lined up in order of their numbers in front of the bank to await further instructions from their father. People were yelling questions at them to get some sort of idea on what the hell just went on in that bank, but as they were taught, they were not allowed to answer any questions by anybody, especially not the media. It was their father's place to talk to the public, not theirs.</p><p>"Why can't I go play with the others?" Vanya asked their father, as they were standing on the roof of a building across the street to see how the fight would turn out. It wasn't fair, Vanya was never allowed to play with them, and they got to do all the fun stuff. Why was she always excluded? Surely, she had something in common with them, right?</p><p>"We've been through this before, Number Eight," Reginald Hargreeves started, lowering the telescope he was using to watch the bank, "I'm afraid there's just nothing special about you."</p><p>"Oh…"</p><p>Reginald took this as the time to get down to the bank to explain himself to the media about what just happened. He knew how to explain this better than anyone, besides, if these children tried telling them that they took on the handful of robbers on their own with powers would they believe them? Sure, the hostages could vouch for them, but they would've been written off as being in shock.</p><p>Cameras were clicking rapidly as the children were still lined up with Reginald standing in front of them to speak to the news reporters. He's practiced this speech for a long time, it was only a matter of time before he sent them out on their first mission.</p><p>"Our world is changing," Reginald said loudly so the entire crowd could hear him speak, "Has changed. There are some among us gifted with abilities far beyond the ordinary. I have adopted seven such children… I give you the inaugural class of the Umbrella Academy."</p><p>The second he stopped talking, news reporters were calling to him to try to get a word with him on exactly what he was talking about. Gifted abilities? What did that entail? How did he know about these children? Where did he travel to find them? This opened a can of worms that couldn't be contained.</p><p><em>"What happened to their parents?" </em>A woman reporter managed to get across to him, holding her mic out to him so he could speak clearly.</p><p>"They were suitably compensated," he said simply as if it wasn't a big deal.</p><p><em>"Are you concerned about the welfare of the children?" </em>Another reporter asked.</p><p>"Of course, as I am for the fate of the world."</p><p>Reginald stood behind his children now, smiling at the crowd. Finally, after all these years of preparation and training, the Umbrella Academy was now known to the world. This was all because of him.</p><p>The world would surely thank him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The News</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The lights hanging above the large stage shined down a warm orange color over Elijah Hargreeves as his bandmates as he strummed the last note of the final song of the concert. It echoed through the large room, the cheers from the crowd in front of him rumbled the stage as validation of another well-done set. Elijah began breathing heavily, his lungs and throat felt like they were on fire from the past hour of nonstop singing to the crowd of punks. He removed his signature electric guitar that was wrapped around his torso, a bit of weight lifted from his chest and he was able to breathe a bit better. As a final measure, he held the guitar high above his head, causing the crowd to cheer louder, his eyes stinging from the sudden camera flashes and lights shining past him.</p><p>Elijah removed the uncomfortable IEM from his ear, shoving it in his back pocket so he could wave to the audience before following his bandmates off the stage. As he turned to exit, he caught glimpse of their band name plastered largely on the wall behind him. He never thought in a million years he would make it this far in his life, he always wanted to play in a punk band but was always told that the Umbrella Academy was going to be his purpose in life. Thank god he was able to leave when he had the chance. Well, he should say he was happy to be away from their father, there wasn't a day that went by where he didn't think about any of his siblings. Occasionally he would get a text from Klaus, nothing ever good though, he was always asking for money to feed his drug addiction. Elijah hates to admit it, but he mainly ignored his brother's texts, come to think of it, he hasn't bothered him in a couple of months… for all he knew he was dead in a ditch somewhere.</p><p><em>"There it is! Rage and Love, live at the Fillmore!" </em>Elijah heard the announcer address the crowd.</p><p>He wiped the sweat from his forehead, keeping an eye out for the nearest water bottle before he ended up passing out. Someone from the stage crew approached Elijah, offering to take his guitar for him, without questioning it he handed it over. He needed to sit, there wasn't a set where he didn't give 110% out there, it didn't help that he felt… off. A sense of dread stuck with him for the past two days, no amount of anxiety medications made it go away, granted they weren't exactly <em>prescribed </em>to him, but they were all bandmates, right? So, they shared medication.</p><p>Elijah plopped down on the couch in the backroom, leaning forward so his elbows were on his knees as he buried his face in his hands. He needed a minute alone, don't get him wrong, performing was a fantastic feeling, but it could be extremely draining depending on how long their set was.</p><p>He jumped when he felt a sudden burst of cold press against his neck, he looked up to see the bass guitarist of the band holding a water bottle to him.</p><p>"Water for your thoughts?" the bass guitarist, Oliver asked jokingly with a smile on his face.</p><p>"Thanks," Elijah said, returning a small smile as he took the plastic bottle from him, sitting back against the couch as he opened it.</p><p>"I'll say it before and I'll say it again," the drummer Dex said as he entered the backroom, spinning his drumsticks between his fingers as he plopped down on the couch next to Elijah, "I never thought we'd get to the fuckin' Fillmore."</p><p>Elijah only nodded as he took a long sip of his water. Him being this quiet was highly uncharacteristic, he was the one who was always hyped after a show and saying how great they did.</p><p>"C'mon, man, what's wrong?" Oliver asked him, nudging him to get him to talk.</p><p>Elijah only shook his head in response, he had no idea why he was feeling his way, if he did, he would tell them since they were more of his family now than his actual family.</p><p>"Ah, you'll be fine," Dex said enthusiastically trying to keep the mood elevated. "Here." He kicked his feet up on the coffee table in front of them, flipping the TV that was placed on the wall with the remote on the couch arm.</p><p>The channel the TV was preset to was the news, Dex was about to change it until a familiar picture flickered on the screen.</p><p>
  <em>"In breaking news, Sir Reginald Hargreeves has been found dead in his home earlier this evening… doctors are suspecting that a heart attack was the cause of death, but are looking for a second opinion…"</em>
</p><p>The room was heavy and silent when hearing the news. This had to be the reason why Elijah felt so dreadful, there could be no other reason for it. The news reporter was still talking on the breaking news, the only thing Elijah could hear was a loud ringing in his ears as he stared at the TV not even in the moment anymore. Thousands of thoughts were running through his mind now and he had no idea which ones to pick apart first or what he was supposed to do now. Did his siblings know? What would they do? Should he go back home?</p><p><em>"…'lijah…. 'lijah….? </em>'lijah!"</p><p>He snapped out of his thoughts, looking up at his bandmates who, at some point, moved from the couch to standing in front of him to make sure he was okay.</p><p>"I gotta go," he said quickly as he stood up. He didn't say a word as he picked up his guitar case and jacket. He needed to go home. Now. He'd either find some of his family or nothing, he honestly wasn't sure what would be worse.</p><hr/><p>Elijah took an emergency plane back home, he didn't mind having to pay extra to get the emergency ticket, whatever he needed to get there. He couldn't imagine how their mom was feeling about all this, if anything at least he would see her again after all these years, it's been too long at least she cared about them. Maybe it was his paranoia, or maybe it was because people knew who he was due to being apart of the Umbrella Academy and now being the lead singer of a popular punk rock band, but Elijah couldn't help but feel like everyone around him was staring at him. He did everything he could to keep his mind off of the staring eyes, the only thing he could do on the plane was put on his headphones and write in his songbook. Nothing in his songbook exactly made sense at first glance, but eventually, he would string everything together to make a song, and with the feelings he had now he would certainly have something later.</p><p>The flight was almost seven-hours long, and even though the only sleep Elijah had from the night of the concert to this point was a crappy inflight nap, that didn't stop him from taking a taxi to immediately take him home. It would be about another hour until they made it to the destination, the pouring rain tapping heavily against the taxi's roof and rolling down the windows wasn't helping his exhaustion. Letting out a yawn, Elijah pressed his head against the window, watching the raindrops run down the window, mentally making a race out of which raindrops would make it down first. Trying to keep track of the silly game eventually put him to sleep, not waking up until the taxi driver told him that he was at the address.</p><p>Elijah was a little disoriented from his nap but seeing the place where he grew up sent him a small burst of adrenaline to get him moving. He made sure to tip the taxi driver before sliding out of the car with his guitar case in hand. A part of his mind was telling him to leave and run away, far away, it doesn't matter that he died he didn't owe him anything. What he did to them growing up… he was a monster. The other part of him was nudging him forward to make sure mom was okay.</p><p>"Fuck…" Elijah muttered, running a hand through his black fluffy hair that was getting soaked from standing out in the rain. He made the trip here, might as well get something out of it.</p><p>He forced himself to move up the stairs, opening the front door quickly just to be greeted by the familiar foyer. Cool air swept into him as he took a step inside, the dim lights bounced off the walls and upper level from the hanging chandelier. Memories that Elijah once blocked and pushed to the back of his mind suddenly gave a kickback, rushing back to him. It made him stop and wonder how he was able to forget about all the trauma they went through here at the hands of the man who was supposed to be their father.</p><p>He set the guitar case down on the floor next to the entrance, a small click and echo traveled throughout the room even though he barely made a sound. No wonder their father always knew when one of them tried sneaking out. Elijah would never forget the time where he tried sneaking out on a Friday night to go to a party with the friends he had hidden from his family, he put a couple of bottles of alcohol in his backpack, tip-toed down the stairs. All it took for him to get caught was him accidentally bumping into the small, round table in the center of the foyer. Elijah would never forget standing frozen in fear when he heard heavy footsteps coming towards him, he didn't have any time to react or figure a plan before their father stormed into the room looking furious and demanding what he was doing out of bed. When Elijah didn't have an answer that would satisfy him, Reginald snatched the backpack from him, he didn't have to open it to hear the alcohol bottles rattling against each other. The anger in Reginald's eyes was something Elijah would never forget, the rare occasion he remembered that it made him shudder. Needless to say, he made sure to never get caught like that again.</p><p>Glancing to his right into the living room, Elijah saw their mother sitting still staring off into the fireplace. This was unusual for her, normally she was a go-go-go mother, always happy to see her children and making sure everything was going okay with them.</p><p>"Mom?" Elijah called out, slowly moving into the living room. She didn't react in the slightest, yeah, that was extremely out of character. He stood next to her for a moment, hoping she would eventually snap out of whatever state she was in. "Mom?" He tried again, kneeling next to her. He rested his head on her shoulder, something he used to do whenever he had a bad dream when they were still living at home as a child. It felt empty considering the fact the usual act of her running a hand through his hair like she usually did didn't happen. Who knew she would've been shaken up about dad's death?</p><p>"Elijah," a familiar voice echoed through the living room, causing him to lift his head away from his mother's shoulders and to look over his own. Standing there wearing his usual attire and walking with a cane was none other than Pogo.</p><p>A small smile tugged at Elijah's lips as he stood up to greet him. "Pogo, how've you been?"</p><p>Pogo let out a sigh as he walked closer. "I suppose things have been better," he took a quick glance at Grace before looking back up at him, "it's nice to see some of you again. It's been a long time."</p><p>"Not long enough," Elijah mumbled under his breath, shoving his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.</p><p>"Ah, but you've been busy, have you not?" Pogo continued, "if memory serves me right… your band released a new album, correct?"</p><p>Elijah chuckled a bit, itching the side of his nose. "Ah, yeah. Did you listen to it?"</p><p>"You know how your father was, no rock music."</p><p>He groaned. "Pogo, it's <em>punk.</em>"</p><p>"It's all the same crap," Diego called out to him as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He rounded into the living room. "You're probably just as shitty with the guitar now as you were back then."</p><p>"Haha, that's so funn-" Elijah stopped midsentence upon seeing the outfit that Diego was wearing. "Uh… what's uh…" he motioned towards him, "what's all that?"</p><p>Diego didn't say anything as he walked past Elijah, purposely bumped into his shoulder as he moved by. Yeah, so Diego was still Diego it seemed.</p><p>"I'm gonna head up to my room, Pogo," Elijah told him, finally getting hit with a wave of exhaustion, "I'll be back down in a bit."</p><p>Pogo nodded, walking away to let the Hargreeves do whatever he needed to do, he had assumed it was a long and tiring journey to get here on such short notice anyway.</p><p>Moving back into the foyer, Elijah grabbed his guitar case again before slowly making his way up the main, green stairs. He wasn't as fortunate as the others, his bedroom was on the third floor along with Number Five and Ben's room, it was more or less the attic. The fire escape would've made it easy to sneak out, unfortunately, Sir Reginald didn't care enough for Elijah's safety, after his first attempt through the front door he decided to lock it up. What would've happened if one of Klaus' fires actually spread and set the house on fire? Guess that wasn't Reginald's concern.</p><p>At the top of the stairs of the third floor, Elijah stopped, looking between the two doors on either side of the hall. The right side had Five's room, across from there was Ben's room, at the opposite end of the hall held Elijah's room. Since Ben's passing and Five's disappearance this floor was unnervingly quiet, at first Elijah enjoyed the peace and quiet, but when the reality of the situation set in that two of his siblings were gone. How could any of them grieve? Their father would never allow them to talk about it.</p><p>Elijah turned from the top of the staircase and moved down the hallway towards his room, he couldn't wait to get into bed, he knew that Grace always kept their rooms nice and clean. When he opened the familiar bedroom doorknob, he slowly pushed it opened, the door squeaked on its hinges as it moved inwards. A way of nostalgia washed over him as he stepped into his old room, the countless posters were still lined up on the slanted wall that hung over his bed, vinyl records lined up on the self that could possibly be worth something now if he ever decided to sell them. The floor creaked underneath his feet as he moved across the room, closing the door behind him as he moved over to the bookcase that was on the opposite side of the room. A cracked picture frame sat on the top of the self, Elijah picked it up, it was a photo of the Umbrella Academy as children all in uniform. The smile he had wasn't a happy one, it was more of a painful, sad memory. They were raised as soldiers; they weren't supposed to grow up like this.</p><p>He plopped down on the bed, rubbing his face with his hands as he let out a sigh. He did not expect he would step foot in this house again, he made a promise to himself that he wouldn't have contact with the Umbrella Academy again, yet here he was. Letting out a frustrated groan, Elijah fell backward on the bed, staring up at the ceiling with his thoughts swarming through his mind. The sooner they could figure the funeral arrangements, the sooner he could get back home and away from all this.</p><p>Just needed to survive the next few days.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Family Reunion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Even though Elijah's body was telling his brain to sleep his mind refused to do so, only allowing him to stare up at the ceiling for almost an hour with only empty thoughts passing by every so often. Hopefully, the others would show up soon so they could get something figured out and over with so he could get back to his small home in California. There was nothing for him here, and there never would be, maybe he shouldn't have come, he should've kept this torture house in the past where it belonged. The endless amount of 'training sessions' turned into something from a horror film.</p><p>The doorknob of Elijah's room slowly started to turn, causing him to sit up quickly. He wasn't aware that anybody else had shown up yet besides Diego, but he knew damn well that Diego wouldn't check up on him. If he had to guess it was either Pogo or their mother. Elijah waited to see who it was, as the door opened further, he knew.</p><p>"Klaus!" Elijah shouted, causing the thin man to jump in surprise. He didn't expect anyone to be here yet.</p><p>"Oh!" Klaus said with a huge smile on his face, trying as hard as he could to appear innocent. "This isn't my room," he added quickly with a small laugh to try to play off his true intentions. "It's been so long since I've seen you!" He moved across the room quickly, wrapping his arms around him.</p><p>Elijah moved away from the hug. "What are you really doing in here?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow.</p><p>"I thought it was my-"</p><p>"No, you didn't." Klaus looked taken aback, not sure what to say now that he's been caught in his obvious lie. Elijah pulled out his phone from his front pocket, opening the messaging app to see when the last time Klaus texted him was. "You haven't texted me in two months, what've you been doing?"</p><p>"I've been busy!"</p><p>"Uhhuh… You still didn't answer my question."</p><p>"I didn't think you'd come so I was… gonna… <em>borrow </em>some of your stuff."</p><p>''Borrow'? You mean pawn it off for cash?"</p><p>Klaus held up his hands defensively while looking offended. "Hey, hey, hey… if you actually wanted any of this stuff you would've taken it with you, right?"</p><p>"Hm… you know what would have more valuables?" Elijah thought aloud as he stood up. "Whatever's left in dad's office," he said half-jokingly with a shrug.</p><p>"You!" Klaus said loudly, grabbing Elijah's shoulders, shaking him a bit, "are a genius!"</p><p>Before Elijah could tell him that he was just kidding, Klaus ran out of his room and back down the stairs. He let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing his eye with the back of his hand. Seemed as though Klaus was still Klaus after all. If he and Diego were both here, maybe it was time to head back downstairs to see if anybody else showed up.</p><p>He left his room, closing the door behind him but not before taking careful note of what was where in case Klaus decided to pay his room another visit. The floorboards creaked under his feet as he made his way back to the staircase, he moved down to the second floor, thinking he heard someone moving around down there. Nobody was in the hallway, but that didn't stop Elijah from slowly moving down to peak into the rooms that had their doors opened. Most of them were empty until he got to Allison's room.</p><p>The tall woman was standing in front of her dresser with the mirror, looking at the photo frame that sat there. Elijah wasn't the only one of the Hargreeves who made it into the spotlight, unlike him though, Allison became an actress. While they both were in that fame range, they were on opposite sides of the same coin.</p><p>Elijah knocked on her opened door with the knuckle of his finger, causing her to jump in surprise. Clearly, she was lost in her own thoughts just as he's been since he arrived.</p><p>Her surprised expression softened upon seeing Elijah in her doorway.</p><p>"You came," she said quietly, walking across her room, wrapping her arms around Elijah, and brought him into a hug. While she was aware of Elijah's fame, she never seemed to find the time to send him a quick text to congratulate him on his success. It seemed as though they were always passing past one another but never saying anything.</p><p>"Yeah…" Elijah mumbled, giving her a hug in return, "I dunno why," he added with a small chuckle, pulling away from the hug.</p><p>"I don't think any of us know why we're here." Allison glanced around her old bedroom, flashbacks occasionally came and went with every new detail she noticed. Most memories were horrible, there were a couple that made her smile. Why couldn't they have more happy memories like that growing up? Why couldn't they be a normal family with a normal father? "Guess to say our final goodbyes?"</p><p>"Hm… maybe. Never thought we'd be at dad's funeral. Figured he'd stay kickin' to torture us for the rest of our lives."</p><p>Allison laughed a bit, nodding. "I thought that too." She paused, lost in her thoughts for a moment before looking back up at Elijah. "Did you see that Vanya's here?"</p><p>"Is she?" He slowly shook his head in disbelief. After the book she wrote about their life here and as the Umbrella Academy, she wanted to show up here? It's not like Elijah was mad over it <em>like some people, </em>he was just shocked is all, she would put herself in a spot where she could get verbally attacked just to say goodbye to dad. "How's she been?"</p><p>"Certainly still… Vanya."</p><p>Elijah took one more quick glance around her bedroom before stepping back out into the hallway with his hands in his pockets. "I think I'm gonna say hey."</p><p>"Well, I'm glad you came."</p><p>He only nodded before heading down the stairs, sure he wasn't the best brother to her growing up, none of them were perfect siblings. It was difficult to try to be kind to her when both their father and the other siblings bullied her and purposely left her out of things only because she didn't have powers like the rest of them. It always struck them as odd that even though there wasn't anything special about her that their father kept her around, they figured he would go out and find another kid with powers like them. Oh well, he must have had his reasons. Whatever those reasons were didn't mean they had to isolate her like they did.</p><p><em>"…that Number Five was still out there somewhere," </em>Elijah heard Pogo saying just as he reached the bottom of the staircase. Peeking his head into the living room, he saw both Vanya and Pogo talking to each other, something about Five from what little conversation he walked in on. "He never lost hope."</p><p>"And look where that got him," Elijah added in as he stepped into the living room, glancing up at the painted picture of their lost brother hanging on the wall over the fireplace.</p><p>What happened to Number Five was tragic in a way. He and their father always butt heads, as a way to prove himself he ended up getting lost without a trace. While Sir Reginald told them not to go looking for him that didn't mean they didn't do it anyways. A couple of them would sneak out at a time to search around for him, both to make sure he wasn't living on the streets or dead in a ditch somewhere. After two years with nothing coming up with their search, they called it off. They hoped that wherever he was he was safe.</p><p>"'lijah," Vanya said with a small smile on her face as she walked over to him. They brought each other into a hug. "I saw your interview on The Morning Show. How have you been?"</p><p>"Same ol' same ol'… I, uh, picked up your book."</p><p>Vanya took a step back, the smile dropped from her face. Whenever any of her siblings mentioned they read her book nothing ever good followed up with that. "Oh… did you?"</p><p>"Life gets kinda boring on the road. Bought it to pass the time."</p><p>There was a silence between them for a moment. Elijah wasn't sure what to say now, and Vanya didn't want to push him to say anything about the book that he didn't feel comfortable saying. Nothing he could say could be worse than what Diego told her.</p><p>"What'd you think?" Vanya finally asked.</p><p>Elijah looked over at Pogo for some sort of help, but when he realized there was no way he was going to get himself out of this situation without being honest he looked at her again.</p><p>"In terms of writing? I thought it was great. Reading it certainly reopened old wounds."</p><p>"Sorry."</p><p>"No… actually, Vanya? I haven't seen you in, like… twelve years. I'm sorry for how I treated you."</p><p>Vanya breathed out a laugh, shaking her head a bit. "Don't be, it's fin-"</p><p>"It's not fine, Vanya. We treated you like trash. Siblings are supposed to be there for each other, and we weren't there for you. I'm sorry."</p><p>"I accept your apology, thanks 'lijah."</p><p>Numerous footsteps came down the stairs, Luther, Allison, and even Klaus wandered into the living room ready to get whatever they need to plan started. Elijah couldn't help himself as he stared at Luther, he wasn't always that big, was he? He certainly had some sort of workout routine going on that he needed to share with them.</p><p>"Oh… wow," Elijah finally said as Luther walked up to him. "Had some, uh… extra time to workout on the moon, huh?"</p><p>"Yeah, nice to see you too, Elijah."</p><p>"What's your secret? Protein shakes? Oh!" He snapped his fingers, turning around as Luther walked past him to plop down on the couch. "Protein <em>bars?</em> That's it, huh?"</p><p>"Stop it," Luther hissed, "sit."</p><p>Letting out a sigh, Elijah plopped down on the opposite couch next to Vanya, kicking his feet up on the coffee table. It didn't take long for Luther to reach forward, smacking Elijah's feet so he would take them off the table, he knew that dad hated it when they did that.</p><p>"Ow, watch it," Elijah scowled as he lowered his feet onto the ground.</p><p>"God, I can't find an outlet," Allison said as she walked around the living room with a drink in one hand and her phone with the charger in the other. She stopped where she was standing, turning around quickly to look at Elijah. "Hey, 'lijah?"</p><p>"Absolutely not," he answered quickly, knowing exactly what she was going to ask of him.</p><p>"It'll take five minutes, c'mon." Allison pulled the USB from the charging cube, holding the cord and her phone out to him. "Put your power to good use."</p><p>Letting out a defeated sigh, Elijah snatched them from her. He plugged the cable into the phone before placing the USB end in between his teeth, that way it'd send small amounts of electricity to the phone, if he used his full power it would surely get ruined.</p><p>"You owe me for this," he mumbled as the phone beeped to signal it was charging properly.</p><p>Diego wandered into the living room after doing one more thorough search throughout the house to make sure he didn't miss anything the first two times he did a sweep. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. No fingerprints, no forced entry points, everything was already locked to begin with and not tampered with. The great Sir Reginald brought down by only a lousy heart attack? That didn't sit right with Diego, but there was no other explanation than that. Without saying anything, Diego took a seat in the chair next to Allison. The only sound in the room was the crackling of the fireplace and the occasional clings coming from Klaus at the minibar.</p><p>"Um…" Luther finally said as he began to stand up from the couch, "I guess we should get this started. So, I figured we could have a sort of memorial service in the courtyard at sundown. Say a few words, just at Dad's favorite spot."</p><p>"Dad had a favorite spot?" Allison questioned, as she truly didn't know that about him.</p><p>"You know, under the oak tree."</p><p>"Dad had a favorite… anything?" Elijah added, his teeth still on the charger.</p><p>"We used to sit out there all the time. None of you ever did that?"</p><p>"Will there be refreshments?" Klaus asked as he made his way back over to the rest of the family, a cigarette between his fingers in one hand and some drinks in the other. "Tea? Scones? Cucumber sandwiches are always a winner."</p><p>"What? No. And put that out, Dad didn't allow smoking in here." Klaus shrugged as he set his drinks down on the end table and the cigarette between his lips.</p><p>"Is that my skirt?" Allison asked, leaning forward in her seat.</p><p>"What?" He turned to face her. "Oh, yeah, this! I found it in your room. It's a little dated, I know, but it's very breathy on the bits." He did a small twirl to show off how the skirt looked on him before plopping down next to Elijah on the couch.</p><p>"Listen up. Still some important things that we need to discuss, alright?"</p><p>"Like what?" Diego finally spoke up, he couldn't wait to hear what Luther had to say now.</p><p>"Like the way he died."</p><p>"And here we go…"</p><p>"I don't understand, I thought they said it was a heart attack," Vanya said.</p><p>"Yeah, according to the coroner."</p><p>"Well, wouldn't they know?"</p><p>"Theoretically."</p><p>"Theoretically?" Allison and Elijah both said at the same time.</p><p>"I'm just saying, at the very least, something happened. The last time I talked to Dad he sounded strange."</p><p>"Oh, <em>quelle surprise!"</em> Klaus gurgled with a mouth full of alcohol. It took everything in Elijah to not shock him in the ribs.</p><p>"Strange how?"</p><p>"He sounded on edge. Told me I should be careful who to trust," Luther explained.</p><p>Elijah slumped down in his seat with his arms folded across his chest. "Who cares? He was always on edge."</p><p>"He's right, Luther," Diego agreed as he stood up from his chair, "he was a paranoid, bitter old man who was starting to lose what was left of his marbles."</p><p>"No," Luther began to defend, "he must have known something was going to happen. Look, I know you don't like to do it, but I need you to talk to Dad," he addressed only to Klaus, who put a hand on his chest as if he was both offended yet honored.</p><p>He scoffed. "I can't just…" he leaned forward on the couch, "call Dad in the afterlife and be like, 'Dad, could you just… stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call?'"</p><p>"Since when? That's your thing."</p><p>"I'm not in the right… frame of mind."</p><p>"You're high?" Allison asked.</p><p>Klaus laughed. "Yeah! Yeah! I mean, how are you not, listening to this nonsense?"</p><p>"Well sober up, this is important. Then there's the case of the missing monocle."</p><p>Diego rolled his eyes. "Who gives a shit about a stupid monocle?"</p><p>"Exactly. It's worthless. So, whoever took it, I think it was personal. Someone close to him… someone with a grudge."</p><p>"What's your point?" Elijah asked.</p><p>"Oh, isn't it obvious, Elijah? He thinks one of us killed Dad."</p><p>It was silent between the siblings for a moment while the disbelief set in. How could their own brother even think that one of them decided to kill their father? Sure, he was a monster and an asshole, but none of them would purposely kill him. They kept their distance from both him and the Umbrella Academy for a reason, and that's so they wouldn't end up killing him or each other. How could he even suggest something like that, that was absurd.</p><p>"You do?" Klaus finally squeaked, breaking the silence.</p><p>"How could you think that?" Vanya added.</p><p>Luther was speechless for a moment, backtracking his thoughts as he began to wonder if maybe he went a little too far. He wasn't trying to offend any of them, he was just trying to think logically here, who else would be able to get close to their father like that and end up killing him? Suppose that an old man having a heart attack was unbelievable.</p><p>"Great job, Luther. Way to lead," Diego told him, already frustrated with the conversation before this stupid theory was brought up. Without saying another word he walked out of the room before he ended up saying something he would truly regret.</p><p>"That's not what I'm saying."</p><p>"You're crazy, man. You're crazy," Klaus stated, putting out his cigarette as he stood up from the couch following the lead from the rest of his siblings.</p><p>"I'm not finished." No matter what Luther had to say now it didn't matter, they were done listening to him.</p><p>"Sorry, I'm just gonna go murder Mom. Be right back."</p><p>"That's not what I was saying. I didn't…" he let out a defeated sigh as they all walked out of the room. Great. He had no idea how he was going to fix this one.</p><hr/><p>Everyone went their separate ways for a while in the house, not wanting to be around each other and especially Luther after what he accused them of. The majority of them went into their rooms to cool down, while Klaus stayed in the living room to try to get ahold of their father, maybe they'd get lucky and he would respond to them. It seemed impossible, especially since he was still high, but he wouldn't know unless he tried. As a sort of… encouragement, Elijah gave him an electric shock to get him sobered up. Not like that helped, but it was always funny to see their reactions when he used his power on them. After seeing him ramble to the urn for five minutes, Elijah went back up to his own room to have some time to himself, he didn't expect the short interaction between his family to be so draining.</p><p>Once again, he was laying on his bed with his arms behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. The ceiling he once counted all the cracks and imperfections from the wear and tear time has put through their home. It was a sort of comfort that none of them really changed, but at the same time, they've all changed so much…</p><p>Elijah had only closed his eyes for a moment but opened them immediately upon hearing one of Luther's old records being played loudly enough for the whole house to hear. It was an oldie but a goodie, a song that they danced to as kids when their father wasn't around, Pogo would never mention it to them, but he's caught a glimpse at one or two of their dance parties in Luther's room. As much as Elijah tried to ignore the song his leg couldn't help but start to shake to the beat, certainly the musician in him.</p><p>It started small with his leg bouncing to the beat, but then it quickly progressed to bobbing his head to the beat. It didn't take long until he stood up from his bed, jumping around and spinning in a similar way he danced when they were children.</p><p>
  <em>I think we're alone now…</em>
</p><p>A sudden wave of happiness washed through him, one that he hasn't felt since he heard the news of their father's passing. Unfortunately, that happiness only lasted for a moment before a crash of lightning and a large rumble of thunder shook through their house, cutting the music off abruptly.</p><p>What was going on now?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Unexpected Guest</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Everyone scrambled out of the house to the courtyard where the source of the rumbling and thundering was coming from, what stood before them was a large blue swirling sort of cloud that formed from out of nowhere. The wind was howling all around them that they could barely hear each other, not like they had anything to say, they had no clue what it was they were looking at. Lightning flashed as they walked closer to get a better look, again, they still couldn't make out what it was.</p><p>"What is it?" Vanya had to basically scream over the thunder and wind so she could be heard.</p><p>"Don't get too close!" Elijah told her, grabbing her arm and pulling her back. Whatever it was it was bad news, and if one of them got hurt because of it there was no way for them to know how to treat it properly.</p><p>The five siblings, minus Klaus huddled together as a sort of comfort as they wanted in disbelief.</p><p>"Yeah, no shit…" Diego mumbled, making sure neither Vanya nor Elijah got any closer.</p><p>"Looks like some sort of temporal anomaly," Luther pointed out, "either that or a miniature black hole. One of the two." Lightning crashed once again, blinding them all temporarily.</p><p>"Pretty big difference there, Paul Bunyan."</p><p>"Out of the way!" They suddenly heard Klaus yell, pushing past all of them with a fire extinguisher in his hands.</p><p>"What-" Before Elijah could ask what the hell Klaus thought he was doing, he pointed the nozzle at the cloud, pulling the trigger as if that would make it go away. When that didn't work Klaus threw the fire extinguisher into it. "What the hell was that?!" He demanded.</p><p>"I dunno! You have a better idea?"</p><p>Luther pulled Klaus back as more electricity crackled around them, what appeared to be an older man was now in the center of the cloud in a light blue color. None of them could recognize who it could possibly be. Luther pushed whichever one of his siblings behind him.</p><p>"Everybody get behind me," he shouted over the roaring thunder.</p><p>"Yeah, get behind us," Diego added quickly. There was no way he was going to allow Luther to be the only hero here.</p><p>"I vote for running, c'mon!" Klaus shouted, grabbing onto Elijah's arm to try to pull him back into the house but he wouldn't budge.</p><p>More electricity crackled through the air as the old man in the cloud began to scream, pounding on what could only be assumed to be invisible glass in front of him. He transformed into a different figure altogether, still screaming as the small figure fell from the disappearing cloud to the leaf-covered ground below. The cloud faded away with one last rumble of thunder, the environment around them turned back to normal as if the cloud wasn't there in the first place, the only evidence of it was… Five?</p><p>Five stood up slowly, looking highly disoriented as he looked at his family… his much older family. The clothes he was wearing were far too big to fit him, but this didn't make any sense. Five had to be almost thirty years old like the rest of him. Why did he look like he was thirteen?</p><p>"Does anyone else see little Number Five, or is that just me?" Klaus asked allowed, hoping that he was still somewhat high, and his vision wasn't correct.</p><p>Five was confused, what Klaus said didn't make sense, he was much, much older than 'little Number Five.' Once he looked down at his clothes, he knew that a mistake was made somewhere. How did that happen?</p><p>"Shit…" Five said, looking back up at his siblings.</p><hr/><p>Five let out a sigh as he slammed the cutting board down on the kitchen table, he turned around and began scavenging through the cabinets.</p><p>"What's the date? The exact date," he asked, not bothering to look at his siblings who still had no clue what the hell was going on here. He grabbed the bag of bread before making his way back to the table so he could make himself something to eat, the jump back left him starving.</p><p>"The 24th," Vanya answered.</p><p>"Of what?" Five asked rather impatiently.</p><p>"March," Elijah answered just as impatiently as Five asked.</p><p>"Good." Five was so focused on making his sandwich that he couldn't care less that all of his siblings were staring at him as if they couldn't believe he was truly here. He didn't even explain <em>how </em>he got to the present or where the hell he's been this entire time.</p><p>"So… are we gonna talk about what just happened?" Elijah asked when nobody else spoke up.</p><p>Again, Five didn't say a word as he placed two pieces of bread on the cutting board. Why should he have to explain himself? It wasn't like they would understand what the hell he was talking about anyways. They were always beneath him, as adults, and even when they were children, they could never see the bigger picture.</p><p>Luther stood up suddenly, finally that snapped Five out of his snack making to look up at him.</p><p>"It's been seventeen-years," Luther pointed out, frustrated that he wasn't telling them what was going on with him.</p><p>Five scoffed in response, feeling the tension in the kitchen grow. "It's been a lot longer than that." He stepped closer to Luther, only to create a small portal to get past Luther to grab the marshmallows that were in the upper cabinet. He created another portal to get back to where he was originally standing. Guess walking was out of date.</p><p>"I haven't missed that."</p><p>"Where'd you go?" Diego asked.</p><p>"The future. It's shit, by the way."</p><p>"Called it!" Klaus said happily as if any of them truly cared if the future was going to be shit or not.</p><p>"I should've listened to the old man," Five continued as he opened the refrigerator. "You know, jumping through space is one thing, jumping through time is a toss of the dice." He opened the lid of the peanut butter jar before glancing up at Klaus. "Nice dress."</p><p>"Oh, well, <em>danke</em>!"</p><p>"How the hell did you get back?" Elijah asked, rocking on the back legs of his chair.</p><p>"In the end, I had to project my consciousness forward into a suspended quantum state version of myself that exists across every possible instance of time."</p><p>"That makes no sense," Diego pointed out.</p><p>"Well, it would if you were smarter."</p><p>That caused Elijah to snicker, at least Five was still Five in a way, still insanely smart, and still a jackass. Diego stood up suddenly, thirteen years old or not he wasn't afraid to knock some sense into him, he was still their brother after all. Luther had to put an arm in front of Diego so he wouldn't do exactly that.</p><p>"How long were you there for?" Luther asked to change the subject.</p><p>"Forty-five years. Give or take."</p><p>"So what are you saying? That you're fifty-eight?"</p><p>"No," Five said, sounding like he was getting frustrated that they weren't understanding what he was saying, "my consciousness is fifty-eight. Apparently, my body is now thirteen again."</p><p>"Wait, how does that even work?" Vanya asked, at least she was trying her best to understand him, even though everything he was saying did, in fact, sound like complete nonsense.</p><p>"Delores kept saying the equations were off… Heh." Five shrugged as he bit into his sandwich, pacing back and forth as if he was deciding what he needed to do next. They didn't have much time, he knew that much but he wasn't sure where to get started, his mind was too fuzzy from the travel back to the present that he needed a moment to gather his thoughts completely.</p><p>"Delores?" Vanya questioned.</p><p>Five either ignored her altogether or was distracted by the newspaper laying in front of him on the table. He let out a hum as it picked it up to read the bold headline: <em>City says goodbye to Reginald Hargreeves.</em></p><p>"Guess I missed the funeral."</p><p>"How'd you know about that?" Luther asked him.</p><p>"What part of the future do you not understand?" It took everything in Luther to not give him a smart-ass remark back, he was supposed to be the leader of his siblings and he needed to act like it, even when they gave him attitude. It didn't help that Elijah let out another snicker, which only made Luther want to strangle both him and Five. "Heart failure, huh?"</p><p>"Yeah – no," Luther and Diego said at the same time.</p><p>Five clicked his tongue in amusement as he began to walk away from the table. "It's nice to see nothing's changed."</p><p>"Uh, that's it?" Allison called to him, finally speaking to him. "That's all you have to say?"</p><p>"What else is there to say? The circle of life," he said as he walked out of the kitchen, leaving the family to sit in silence wondering what the hell just happened.</p><p>"Well…" Luther started, "that was interesting."</p><p>Elijah let out a defeated sigh as he stood up from his chair, could things get more interesting around here in one day? Needless to say, Elijah didn't want to find out, things weren't even supposed to get exciting, they were supposed to have a stupid gathering then they could all go their separate ways once again. Well, until someone else got married or died, at least. Before following Five's lead to leave the kitchen, Elijah reached across the table and grabbed the jar of peanut butter as a little snack.</p><p>"I'm gonna check on Mom," Elijah announced, twisting the lid of the jar, dropping it on the table.</p><p>Luther let out a frustrated sigh, it was like he was keeping an eye on a couple of five-year-olds. "Put it back," he told Elijah firmly.</p><p>"No," he replied as he walked towards the exit, dipping his finger in the peanut butter.</p><p>Luther let out another sigh, this time it was a sigh of defeat. Yeah, Elijah never liked listening to anybody, but that was just how he was, he was always a punk who didn't follow the rules, nevertheless, it still frustrated him that nobody was listening to him like they were supposed to. <em>He </em>was Number One. <em>He </em>was supposed to be the leader of the Umbrella Academy, so why weren't they giving him that respect? Their father thought he was good enough to send him to a mission on the moon, why couldn't they see the same thing? How was he supposed to get them back on his side?</p><p>"Mom?" Elijah called out, his voice echoing through the large rooms. The first place he checked for her was in the laundry room in the basement. She always needed to keep herself busy otherwise she'd get too bored and basically shut down, there was always something to do around here, maybe less so now that dad was dead, and they all left the nest.</p><p>Surprisingly, she wasn't down there, so he moved back up the stairs to look elsewhere. Even though he knew he wasn't supposed to go into their dad's study, that was the only sure place Elijah thought mom would be. Whenever she was running low on things to do, she would always go in there to tidy up, it always got dusty so quickly, not to mention their father always left things scattered about. With each step Elijah took towards the study, the more his heart began to race. Whenever he went to the study it was always just outside the door practically begging for him to tell them all goodnight when they were children. Of course, he never did, he was always busy.</p><p>With the jar of peanut butter still in hand, Elijah opened the study door, it squeaked loudly on its hinges as it opened inward. Even though their father was dead and was technically allowed to go into his study if he wanted to, he couldn't force himself to step foot inside, thinking that he would come out of nowhere to yell at him and lecture him about how he was to never enter his study. Elijah peered inside to see their mom standing over their father's desk, tidying it up just as he predicted.</p><p>"Mom?" Elijah called out to her.</p><p>She stopped what she was doing immediately to look up at him as if it were programmed into her brain. Once she took a quick second to look at Elijah's face before she recognized him in an instant, a bright smile now on her face, but it dropped, and she clicked her tongue.</p><p>"Elijah…" she said, sounding playfully disappointed as she walked across the study until she was standing in front of her son. "You're a mess."</p><p>"Wh-" Before he could answer, she reached up with the kitchen towel she kept in her dress pocket, wiping the smudge of peanut butter that was on the corner of his mouth. "Oh, than-" He got cut off again as she began to press her hands down on his messy hair, even as a child she couldn't get it to look as their father wanted it… perfect, just as the Umbrella Academy's appearance needed to be to the public. "Moom…" He whined, backing away from her hand. "How are you feeling?"</p><p>She looked puzzled for a moment before smiling, not exactly sure what he was talking about. "Why, I'm feeling fine, honey. Why do you ask?"</p><p>"Dad… remember?"</p><p>Her smile dropped once again at the mention of Reginald, it seemed strange that something so important would slip away so easily from her, but that wasn't unexpected from her. She was great, she was a loving and caring mother, sometimes things would slip her memory, as long as she got a quick checkup she would be fine.</p><p>"It'll be okay," she told him, stepping forward and wrapping her arms around him to bring him into a hug.</p><p>"You'll be okay too."</p><hr/><p>The courtyard was dark and gloomy as rain poured down, everyone met outside after grabbing an umbrella to not get soaked. The familiar yet dreadful statue of their brother still stood tall, looking as pristine as it was when their father first had it put up. It was a grim reminder of what they lost, Ben was always the one who wanted to keep the peace, he was everyone's best friend, and they all missed him very much. All the siblings, including their mother, stood in a circle near dad's favorite spot, just like Luther suggested.</p><p>"Did something happen?" Grace asked her children, once again forgetting what happened.</p><p>Everyone looked at her, just as confused as she was on how she couldn't remember.</p><p>"Dad died, mom. Remember?" Elijah reminded her once again as he stepped a bit closer to her.</p><p>"Oh… yes, of course."</p><p>"Is Mom okay?" Allison asked Elijah and Diego. She figured they'd know best considering they were both the mama boys of the family.</p><p>"Yeah, yeah, she's fine," Diego said quickly as Klaus lit a match for his cigarette.</p><p>"Just needs to rest. Y'know… recharge," Elijah added.</p><p>Luther watched as Pogo came out to the courtyard to join the family, holding an umbrella of his own as he stood next to Vanya. He couldn't believe he was actually holding the urn of their father… he never figured he'd see the day.</p><p>"Whenever you're ready, dear boy," Pogo told him.</p><p>Luther didn't say anything as he slowly took the lid off of the urn, to be honest, he wasn't sure what he should do next, so he emptied the contents onto the ground. Everyone looked down at the ashes. Yikes. Everyone looked either embarrassed or awkward that it wasn't as exciting as they thought it was going to be, certainly nothing like in the movies.</p><p>"Probably would've been better with some wind," Luther added upon seeing Diego's mocking grin at him.</p><p>"Does anyone wish to speak?" Pogo asked them. He glanced around only to find that nobody really wanted to speak about their father, he was a cruel, sick man that only wanted the fame of having eight children with powers. "Very well…" He cleared his throat. "In all regards, Sir Reginald Hargreeves made me what I am today. For that alone, I shall forever be in his debt. He was my master… and my friend, and I shall miss him very much." He paused a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing. "He leaves behind a complicated legacy-"</p><p>"He was a monster," Diego interrupted, looking down at the ashes that were now sticking to the wet grass and leaves. Klaus let out a laugh, knowing that this was going to get a bit more interesting. "He was a bad person and a worse father. The world's better off without him."</p><p>"Diego," Allison snapped.</p><p>"My name is Number Two. You know why? Because our <em>father </em>couldn't be bothered to give us actual names. He had Mom do it."</p><p>"Would anyone like something to eat?" Their mom asked them as she could feel the tension growing.</p><p>"No, it's okay, Mom," Elijah told her with a sad smile.</p><p>"Oh… okay."</p><p>"Look, you wanna pay your respects?" Diego continued, stepping forward. "Go ahead. But at least be honest about the kind of man he was."</p><p>"You should stop talking," Luther told him firmly.</p><p>Diego glared at him for a moment, trying to figure him out. "Y'know, you of all people should be on my side here, Number One."</p><p>"I am warning you."</p><p>"After everything he did to you?" He stepped closer. "He had to ship you a million miles away."</p><p>"Diego, stop talking," Elijah told him.</p><p>"Shut up, Number Seven," Diego snapped back at him before glaring back over at Luther who began breathing heavily from the anger rising in him. "That's how much he couldn't stand the sight of you!" He pushed his fingers into Luther's chest knowing full well how that would push him over the edge.</p><p>Just as predicted, Luther shoved his hand away before trying to take a quick swing at him. Diego was always fast though he could see the punch coming and didn't have any issues backing up before he could get hit. Their siblings just watched them, rolling their eyes at their petty behavior as they took a step back to give them some space.</p><p>"Boys, stop this at once!" Pogo yelled, trying to get them to calm down.</p><p>Of course, they were too wound up to listen to anybody, the only thing they could focus on right now was fighting each other. This was a long time comin', they knew if they tried to pull this behavior when they were younger their father wouldn't have put up with it, punishing both them and their other siblings. If one of them got in trouble, they all got in trouble.</p><p>Diego let out a frustrated scream as he composed himself, putting his fists up. "C'mon, big boy!" He taunted just as Luther took another step closer to him.</p><p>Luther tried to throw another swing, but Diego dodged it with ease, landing a blow in his stomach before punching him multiple times in the back as he was hunched over.</p><p>"Stop it!" Vanya tried, she didn't like to see anyone fight.</p><p>"Hit him! Hit him!" Klaus shouted with his cigarette in between his teeth. He honestly couldn't care less who won, but he would never miss a chance to encourage bad behavior.</p><p>Diego was able to land two punches across Luther's face, whether or not Number One was holding back against him wasn't clear, but that didn't stop Diego from giving him everything he had.</p><p>Pogo scoffed before turning around to go back inside, he had no wish to see any of the children fight like this for petty reasons.</p><p>Luther was able to finally grab ahold of Diego, throwing him to the ground, but Diego got back up quickly with his fists up ready to go at it again. He dodged each punch Luther threw at him, kicking him in the ribs once more. They both were gasping for air, it's been a long time since Luther actually had to defend himself so naturally, he was out of practice. Unlike Diego whose been working in the shadows for years.</p><p>Five let out an annoyed sigh. "We don't have time for this," he mumbled before turning to head back inside where it was warm.</p><p>Luther threw his arm back, reading himself to throw it towards Diego once more. The second he did, Diego stepped to the side, causing Luther's fist to land on Ben's fragile statue. It flew backward in what seemed like slow motion as everyone turned to look, but just as they did the head broke off the statue.</p><p>"Oh…" Klaus said sadly.</p><p>"Annnd there goes Ben's statue," Allison said, sounding extremely disappointed. She turned and walked back inside, both furious and annoyed that they got so worked up over this.</p><p>Not wanting to leave the match feeling as if it were a draw, Diego took out one of his knives from his pocket when he thought nobody was paying attention.</p><p>"Diego, don't!" Elijah yelled towards him.</p><p>It was too late though, Diego already threw the knife towards Luther. In no way was he planning on killing him or hurting him too badly, he just wanted to show that he wasn't afraid to finish the fight. The knife zipped past Luther before he could tell where it was going to go, thankfully it was directed to only slice his arm. Still, that didn't stop him from gasping, he covered the wound with his hand panting from the adrenaline. He stood unmoving for a second before rushing back inside without another word to anyone. Seeing him leaving like that without any eye contact made Diego question if he went too far.</p><p>"You never know when to stop, do you?" Vanya asked him.</p><p>"You got enough material for your sequel yet?"</p><p>"He was my father, too," she said before going back inside.</p><p>Diego moved over towards their mother who was still standing in confusion about what was going on now. "C'mon, let's go inside, Mom," he told her before helping her back inside, leaving Klaus and Elijah still outside.</p><p>Klaus stood up from the bench he was sitting before, walking over to the ashes that were still on the ground before crouching down next to it. "I bet you're lovin' this, aren't you?" He asked, taking the cigarette out of his mouth. "The team at its best. It's just like old times."</p><p>"C'mon, Klaus," Elijah called to him from the door.</p><p>Klaus took one more puff of the cigarette before sticking it in the ashes for good measure. He stood up and looked at his brother with a smile. "Best funeral ever."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. A Brand</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Seventeen Years Ago</p>
<p>"Children! Come down here!" Sir Reginald Hargreeves called up the stairs before standing back in the center of the foyer as he waited for the kids to join him. Although they were taking too long for their liking, he pulled out his pocket watch to check the time.</p>
<p>Beside him was a black chair that was brought in for what they were going to have done. Reginald was thinking about how he could show the world who they were and the best way for them to do that was to have the children always remember where they came from. Eight different pair of footsteps ran down the stairs to see what he wanted, not long did it take for them to line up in order based on their numbers with Luther first and Vanya last. They stood with their hands behind their back as they were trained to do whenever Reginald had something to tell them. Reginald looked over them, mainly making sure they were in accordance with their uniforms. It was almost perfect; they all had their complete uniforms on correctly minus the eye masks, their hair was perfect thanks to Grace… Expect for Number Seven, his fluffy black hair never wanted to cooperate, it was to the point where Reginald overlooked it, but would silently be upset about it.</p>
<p>"Children," he announced loudly, still standing before them with his own hands behind his back, "<em>we </em>are the Umbrella Academy." He looked over at all of them, purposely not looking at Vanya as she was not apart of this. In fact… "Number Eight," he started, looking at her, "you may return to your room. Umbrella Academy business."</p>
<p>Vanya let out a sad, quiet sigh as she turned and slowly went back up the stairs. She should have known that this didn't involve her, nothing ever involved her unless they were all getting punished for something one of them did. Other than that, she wasn't apart of the Umbrella Academy and never would be, so why did she think she could ever be apart of their meetings. It wasn't fair, if she wasn't special like the others then why did he keep her around? Why not switch her out with another child who had powers like them? The only thing she got being here was being left out, ignored, and bullied by the other children. Sure, some of them were nice to her in private, but when they were all together all bets were off and would turn on her in an instant. Vanya didn't have anyone she could trust here, maybe it was for the best anyways… While she was told to go back to her room, Vanya wanted to know what was going on, so once she was on the top of the stairs she sat there to eavesdrop.</p>
<p>"The world is starting to recognize who we are," Reginald started as he began slowly pacing back and forth across the children, "they know the Umbrella Academy as the children who are going to save the world. As we grow there may be a chance where we get separated from each other…" He paused, staring at the floor for a brief moment before getting back to the point. "In the event of that ever happening we need a way to recognize one another."</p>
<p>He moved to stand behind the black chair, sitting on a small stool next to it was a bald man who was covered in tattoos. Elijah couldn't help but admire them, he went as far as trying to make out what they were from where he was standing but couldn't. He always wanted to get tattoos, in fact, he had a list of tattoos he wanted to get when he was older. He had planned to get them in spots where their father wouldn't be able to see them, if he knew any of them got tattoos he would surely kill him.</p>
<p>"Today," Reginald continued, "we will be branded. Only those of the Umbrella Academy will have these tattoos, if we get separated just look for them." When he finished his sentence, he looked away. Did he know something they didn't know? Why did he decide <em>now </em>that they needed to have a way to recognize each other? Was he finally losing it? "Any questions?"</p>
<p>The children looked between each other, trying to figure out if this was a joke or not. A tattoo? Seriously? That was the best way to be able to recognize each other <em>if </em>something happened to them? For years he ranted and raved about how tattoos were trashy and that none of them were to ever get them… So what made him change his mind?</p>
<p>"Um…" Allison started, looking up at Reginald, "do tattoos hurt?"</p>
<p>"Considering the fact that there are seven needles that will be piercing through your skin… It will hurt at least a little," Reginald explained, though rolling his eyes at the silly question.</p>
<p>"Do we <em>have </em>to?" Klaus asked.</p>
<p>"Yes! You are apart of the Umbrella Academy, correct?"</p>
<p>Klaus folded his arms over his chest, mumbling something under his breath.</p>
<p>"Anything else?"</p>
<p>"Can I go first?" Elijah asked him.</p>
<p>Reginald was taken aback that Number Seven wanted to go first, did he actually <em>want </em>a tattoo? Well, either way, he didn't care who went first as long as they all got this done with today, it took enough time and money to get the tattoo artist to come and work on children, so he wanted it done ASAP. He stepped from behind the chair, motioning for Number Seven to take a seat.</p>
<p>Elijah didn't waste any time getting into the chair, when he looked up at his siblings, he noticed they were all looking at him like he was crazy. Didn't he know how much this was going to hurt? Honestly, Elijah didn't care, he always loved tattoos and wouldn't pass up the chance of getting one.</p>
<p>"It'll be fiiine," Elijah reassured them as the tattoo artist wiped down the spot where he was instructed to place the tattoo on the left wrist. "How bad could it be?"</p>
<p>The tattoo artist pressed the stencil down on his skin, waiting a moment before lifting it up leaving behind a purple template he was going to trace to get this tattoo done. Elijah watched eagerly as he put gloves on before tipping the tip of the tattoo gun into the jet-black ink that was sitting on the table in front of him. Number Seven was practically bouncing in his seat when the tattoo artist pressed the trigger of the tattoo gun a couple of times to make sure it was ready before leaning over to get in position to tattoo. Reginald circled around him to make sure everything was correct before he started, once everything looked good, he nodded to the artist.</p>
<p>Whatever excitement of getting a tattoo flew out the window the moment the tattoo gun flipped on and the needles were pressed against his skin, Elijah let out a loud pained yelp. Out of instinct, he tried to pull away from him, but with the grip the tattoo artist had on him he wasn't able to move at all.</p>
<p>"Wait, wait, wait, I change my mind!" Elijah cried out, but nobody said anything. His siblings cringed seeing the blood dribble out of the fresh tattoo. It was disturbing the tattoo artist was able to keep going on even though this child was crying out in pain the whole time.</p>
<p>"Silence, Number Seven," Reginald scolded, causing him to instantly shut his mouth, now only whimpering out in pain.</p>
<p>Elijah had to keep his mind focused on whatever happy thoughts he had going on in there to keep from thinking of the pain. God, why did he say he wanted to go first? Why did nobody tell him how painful tattoos were? Maybe Allison was on to something with her question and he should have paid attention to her. He had to keep thinking that since he was first, he didn't have to be waiting anxiously for his turn to come.</p>
<p>"Remember to breathe," the tattoo artist said in a gruff voice as he completed the circle of the tattoo stencil, all that was left now was the umbrella.</p>
<p>Just as Elijah let out a deep breath, their mother entered the room upon hearing him screaming and needed to make sure everything was okay, and nobody was hurt.</p>
<p>"Are you-" She stopped midsentence when seeing him getting tattooed. "Oh…" She was told by Reginald that the children were getting tattooed and should prepare for this. Grace gently put a hand on Elijah's back as a way to soothe him, while it didn't make the pain go away it was a sort of comfort.</p>
<p>"These are the ties that bind you together," Reginald announced as he was pleased with how the tattoo was turning out.</p>
<p>Knowing that he was just barely able to keep his power under wraps, Elijah rolled his shoulder to get his mom to stop touching him, the last thing he wanted was to ever hurt her. Grace was able to take the hint, moving her hand away and taking a step back, watching with sadness in her eyes as the tattoo artist began to shade in the umbrella. That pain was enough for Elijah to lose control completely, his skin began to glow a faint blue, yet his bones were brightly outlined as his power was warming up. He had to try to keep focus so he wouldn't hurt the tattoo artist, even though he was causing the pain he was just doing what Reginald was paying him to do.</p>
<p>Focusing on the area where the tattoo gun was gliding across his skin, Elijah built up enough of his power to make the pain stop. He let out another pained scream as he released the electricity underneath his skin, causing the tattoo gun to short circuit. He didn't want to cause permanent damage to the tattoo artist's equipment, but god he wanted it to stop.</p>
<p>The room was silent, the buzzing of the tattoo gun ceased by force. The tattoo artist grumbled something under his breath as he sat up straight to get his equipment to start again, give it a minute and it would be as good as new. Elijah was panting from both the pain from the tattoo and releasing electricity from a small area of his body, he wasn't meant to do that, his power was best used when released from his hands. He refused to look up at Reginald, knowing the look on his face was nothing comforting, surely, he was angry that he disrupted the branding process.</p>
<p>"Number Seven," Reginald said sternly, causing Elijah to tremble yet still refusing to look up at him, "you are trying my patience today."</p>
<p>Elijah didn't say anything, knowing if he did nothing good was going to come out. He was experiencing too much pain already, he didn't want to get yelled at right now. He squeezed his eyes shut and flinched as the tattoo gun buzzed back to life, preparing for the needles to pierce through his skin again. The good news though was that he was almost finished, so he could shut himself into his room and block out the rest of the world. None of them understood why mom couldn't break out and save them from the pain and abuse that Reginald put them through, yes, yes, they knew <em>why </em>but they <em>wished </em>she could break out of it.</p>
<p>After a long minute, the tattoo gun turned off once again, this time by the tattoo artist. A cool wipe ran across the burning area to remove any blood and extra ink off from his skin.</p>
<p>"You're done, kid," the tattoo artist said in annoyance. Hopefully, the others wouldn't be as difficult as he was.</p>
<p>Reginald watched Elijah carefully as he slowly got up from the chair, his whole body was trembling from the adrenaline and pain. He held his arm out, getting a better look at the now unwanted tattoo. Well, he certainly didn't expect his first tattoo to be like this.</p>
<p>"I'm going to my room," Elijah mumbled as he began to walk past Reginald. He thought he could get away from him without an issue until the older man's arm shot out, grabbing Elijah's arm tight to prevent him from leaving.</p>
<p>"I did not dismiss you, Number Seven."</p>
<p>"I'm…" Elijah paused, did he really want to get into an argument with him right now? "Going to my room!" He said again, yanking his arm away from Reginald, running up the stairs before Reginald could call after him to get back down here.</p>
<p>Elijah was so busy staring down at his new tattoo trying to keep the tears from falling that he didn't notice that Vanya was standing at the top of the stairs. He only snapped out of his thoughts was because he bumped right into her, almost sending her tumbling backward. His head quickly shot up upon feeling the collision between them, he was too upset to say anything apologetic.</p>
<p>"Move," he mumbled under his breath as he kept going up the next flight of stairs.</p>
<p>Vanya only watched as he kept moving, she didn't even have the chance to apologize to him for being in the way. She did manage to get a peek at the new tattoo he just got though, it was an umbrella with a circle around it. Even though it looked painful to get, Vanya did wish she was allowed to get one to fit in with the rest of her siblings. She slowly moved down the stairs, watching Klaus getting his tattoo. Longing to fit in, Vanya pulled out a black marker from her jacket pocket, popping the cap off before she started drawing a poor version of the umbrella to be a match with the others. When she looked up she caught Reginald looking up at her, nodding for her to go back upstairs. She let out a quiet sigh before turning around and doing what was silently told to do.</p>
<p>She must have been in her room practicing her violin for about thirty minutes as a way to find something to do before she heard a soft knock at her closed door. Vanya stopped immediately, looking at the door with wide eyes, it took her a moment before processing that somebody must have wanted something from her. Nobody ever needed her, so it took her a moment to set her violin down in the case that was sprawled out across her bed before turning around and opened her door. Standing behind the door was Elijah looking down at the floor and something in his hand, but she couldn't make out what it was since his hand was closed around the majority of it.</p>
<p>"Hi, 'lijah," she said cautiously, thinking that maybe it was a prank of some kind.</p>
<p>"Here," was all Elijah told her, shoving whatever he was holding into her hands which startled her. "'m sorry…" he mumbled before turning around to head back up to his room.</p>
<p>Before he got too far, Vanya looked at what he just gave her. Candy. They weren't ever allowed to have candy, whenever they did it was because someone brought it in without any of the adults or Pogo knowing about it. Reginald full-heartedly believed that candy would ruin them and turn them into spoiled brats, they were only technically allowed to have only healthy meals and little snacks in between meals.</p>
<p>"Where'd you get this?" Vanya called after him.</p>
<p>Elijah stopped and looked over his shoulder with a sheepish smile, his hands in his shorts pocket. "Five's real good at, uh… visiting the gen store at night."</p>
<p>Vanya looked shocked. "You guys stole it?"</p>
<p>Elijah turned all the way around to face her completely, holding his hands out as if to defend himself. "Whoa, whoa, whoa…" he started, "the gen store is part of a corporation, they have plenty of cash."</p>
<p>"What's wrong with a corporation?"</p>
<p>"Everything!" He stopped talking upon hearing heavy footsteps coming towards the staircase. "I'll tell ya later."</p>
<p>Before Vanya could say anything else, Elijah turned around and ran back up towards his bedroom on the third floor. The last thing he wanted right now was for Reginald to scold him for leaving when he wasn't allowed to. With a small smile, Vanya closed her bedroom door to eat the candy in secret.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Istanbul</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Leaving so soon?" Elijah's voice echoed through the foyer upon seeing Vanya standing there just popping another one of her medications into her mouth. When she turned around, he was walking in from the living room with his hands in his pockets, taking another quick glance around the familiar room.</p>
<p>"Don't waste your time," was all Vanya said, confusing her brother. "Diego's right, I shouldn't have come."</p>
<p>"Man, fuck Diego, he was being an asshole. You belong here just as much as the rest of us, and always will." A small smile crept on Vanya's face as she slightly shook her head as if she didn't believe what he was telling her. "It's true."</p>
<p>"Thanks, but I already called a taxi, I'm gonna head home."</p>
<p>Why didn't she seem to believe him when he told her that she belonged here? The rest of them were staying at least for a little while. Even though Diego didn't want her here didn't mean they all felt that way, it might have been Elijah's conscience telling him that he did wrong towards her while growing up, but he wanted to fix that as much as he possibly could. Besides, he didn't want her to go yet, he wanted to give her something and didn't plan out exactly how to bring it up. In the sense she was a lot braver and bolder than he was for publishing her book, sure he wrote songs about being angry, who hasn't? Never has he released any of the songs he wrote about his life growing up.</p>
<p>A car horn came from outside their home, indicating that Vanya's taxi was here to take her home.</p>
<p>"Well, that's me," she told him with a sad smile.</p>
<p>"Here," Elijah said quickly before he lost the chance to give her this again. He pulled out a couple of rolled up pieces of paper that were sticking out of his back pocket, holding them tightly in his hand as he was debating on just burning them in the fireplace. "I hope you know that you're so much braver than any of us here." Vanya had no clue what he was talking about, they were the ones who were out fighting all the time while she stayed with Reginald tracking their progress. Elijah held the papers out to her. "You were able to publish a book about how we were treated, I couldn't even release lousy songs about it."</p>
<p>Upon closer look at what he was holding she could see that they were in fact sheet music. "Is that-?"</p>
<p>"I wrote these songs about… well, y'know. I couldn't bring myself to record them. You take 'em."</p>
<p>"'lijah… I can't take these."</p>
<p>"I'm giving them to you. I dunno how different violin and guitar sheet music is, but…" Elijah shrugged, still holding out the music sheets. "You're smart, you can figure them out."</p>
<p>"Oh… well…" she took them from him, once she had them in her hands, she took a quick glance at it, not only did it have the notes on them they had handwritten lyrics underneath them. "Thanks, 'lijah, I appreciate it. I'll take good care of them."</p>
<p>The taxi honked its horn again, indicating that they were getting impatient waiting outside for Vanya. Elijah brought her into what they would have assumed would've been one last hug before she went off back to her normal life. Honestly, seeing their family again and how they grew up to be was a surreal experience. They all had this mentality that they were going to grow up doing the superhero thing forever, now they were all this bundle of mess.</p>
<p>"Take care of yourself," Vanya told him, giving him one last squeeze.</p>
<p>"You too."</p>
<p>"I'll keep an eye out for your next album," she said with a smile after pulling away.</p>
<p>Elijah chuckled. "Yeah, I'll be waiting for your next book."</p>
<p>He watched sadly as Vanya turned towards the door, leaving the Umbrella Academy for the second and last time.</p>
<p>Elijah entered the kitchen to see Five searching around for something unknown to the rest of them, and Klaus was sitting at the table with his feet kicked up and holding Elijah's old guitar, mindlessly strumming away at the strings. Normally Elijah would be pissed that he was messing with it, but he knew that Klaus would try and take care of it. Or he'd try selling it.</p>
<p>"What the hell are you doing with that?" Elijah did ask him.</p>
<p>"You don't even use this one anymore," Klaus whined, plucking around a couple of strings, "what if I wanted to learn to play guitar? You're so selfish."</p>
<p>While neither of them could see it, Five rolled his eyes at their petty squabbling. Little did they know they had a much bigger problem they needed to deal with right now, but until Five could let them in on it he needed to do some investigating of his own. A moment later, Allison entered the kitchen to see what was going on, placing her jacket down on the chair next to the entrance.</p>
<p>"Where's Vanya?" She asked her brothers.</p>
<p>"She left," Elijah told her.</p>
<p>"That's unfortunate," Five added as he walked up to the table with the others.</p>
<p>"Yeah…" Allison sighed, thinking he was talking about Vanya.</p>
<p>"An entire square block. Forty-two bedrooms, nineteen bathrooms, but no, not a single drop of coffee." He slammed a cup down on the table in front of him.</p>
<p>"Dad hated caffeine," Allison reminded him.</p>
<p>"Well, he hated children, too, and he had plenty of us," Klaus said with a pitiful laugh.</p>
<p>"I'm taking the car," Five announced, frustrated with the lack of caffeine.</p>
<p>"Wheeere are you going?" Klaus asked him as he sat up, placing the guitar down on the floor next to him.</p>
<p>"To get a decent cup of coffee."</p>
<p>"Do you even know how to drive?" Allison asked him, folding her arms over her chest.</p>
<p>"I know how to do everything."</p>
<p>Elijah hummed as he stood up from his chair, even though it was pretty late a cup of coffee did sound pretty good right now. "I'll join you."</p>
<p>Five rolled his eyes as he stepped through a portal he made, putting him outside where the car was. Elijah said his goodbyes to his siblings before running outside to meet up with Five before he could drive away without him. He could feel Allison throwing a look at him, hoping that he wasn't going to actually let Five drive.</p>
<p>Just as he made it outside, Five pulled up in the old black car that their father used to drive around in, at least Five had some way to get around whenever he didn't feel like using his powers. He rolled down the passenger side window where Elijah was standing.</p>
<p>"Are you sure you can drive?" Elijah asked him through the window.</p>
<p>"If you want to come then get in," was all Five told him, still sounding irritated.</p>
<p>"Alright, alright," Elijah sighed as he opened the door and slid into the passenger's side seat.</p>
<p>The car sped off through the alleyway so they could get their coffee, it was hard to believe that they still couldn't find any caffeine in the house. Surely one of them had a hidden stash of it around there somewhere. Oh well, nothing could beat a diner's coffee anyways, somehow it just hit differently.</p>
<p>Elijah sat back in his seat, surprised at how well Five's driving was for someone who appeared to be thirteen years old. He felt safe enough to not complain at him to pull over so they could switch places, not like Five would have done so anyway, if things weren't done his way then it wouldn't get done at all. That, or he would kick Elijah out and go on without him. There was a lot of Elijah's mind, so much that he wanted to ask Five about the future, but he couldn't bring himself to ask him anything. He kept his mouth shut, making it so the drive was in complete silence.</p>
<p>It felt like Elijah only closed his eyes for a second before the brakes screeched to a stop, lechering them forward in the parking lot of Griddy's Doughnuts. Seeing the bright sign with the large coffee cup posted up in front of the building brought back a lot of memories to both of them. Man, some things in their childhood were joyful, but there were only limited experiences.</p>
<p>Five didn't waste any time getting out of the car, slamming the door behind him as he practically ran up to the building so he could get what he wanted. Elijah let out a sigh as he was still sitting in the car, watching as someone held the door open for his brother. Why was he so impatient? The coffee would be there 24/7.</p>
<p>When going inside, the diner was empty except for Five sitting on a stool at the front counter, he tapped the bell just as Elijah took a seat to his right.</p>
<p>"You don't have to run off like that," Elijah reminded him just as the door behind them opened.</p>
<p>"I'm not a child," Five hissed back at him, waiting almost patiently for the waitress to come out from the back room. He let out a sigh, glancing over his shoulder to see who else was coming in. His shoulders dropped when he realized it appeared to be a middle-aged trucker taking a break from driving all night.</p>
<p>Five let out another sigh as the trucker took a seat to his left. It was an odd feeling to be back in the present, he didn't have any need to hunt or scavenge for food, he could order as much of it as he wanted. For the most part, he was safe, his family was safe, but that didn't mean they would be for long, it would only be a matter of time before it happened.</p>
<p>The door from the kitchen swung open, a middle-aged waitress wearing a bright pink uniform stepped out while wiping her hands on the front of her pants. "Sorry," she told the three of them, "the sink was clogged." She pulled out a small notebook from the front pocket of her shirt. "So, what'll it be?" She asked between the three of them.</p>
<p>"Uh, give me a chocolate éclair," the trucker told her, looking up from his newspaper.</p>
<p>"Mm-hmm, sure," she quickly wrote it down before looking to Elijah, "and for you?"</p>
<p>"A black coffee, please," he told her before he began digging through his pocket to find his wallet.</p>
<p>"Sure thing. Can I get the kid a glass of milk or something?" She asked the two men.</p>
<p>Five scoffed. "The kid wants coffee. Black."</p>
<p>The waitress was taken aback by his response but gave the two men a smile. "Cute kid," she told them with a chuckle. Five smiled at her before she turned to get started on their orders.</p>
<p>Elijah leaned over to Five. "The kid is also going to get his ass kicked," he said before pulling out his cellphone, scrolling mindlessly to kill time until they both got their coffees.</p>
<p>Five glanced over at the screen before letting out a sigh, he didn't understand how all of these people could waste so much time staring at a screen that wouldn't matter down the line. It seemed like the younger people were the ones who would be more glued to them while not caring about the world around them or what was to come. He looked over at the trucker that was sitting to his left as if he would agree with his silent opinion.</p>
<p>"Don't remember this place being such a shithole," Five said to him, "these young people don't care about anything." Both the trucker and Elijah gave him a confused look, but Five kept going as if he didn't notice. "We used to come here are kids," he said, nodding towards Elijah. When the trucker looked up at him Elijah gave him a forced smile. "Used to sneak out with our other brothers and sisters and eat doughnuts 'till we puked. Remember?" Five looked over at Elijah, who gave a nervous laugh. "Simpler times, huh?"</p>
<p>"Uh…" the trucker started, "I suppose."</p>
<p>"Ah, don't mind him," Elijah started, wrapping an arm around Five to try to clear the strange situation Five unknowingly put them in. "He's, uh…" he made a circling motion on the side of his head, "off his meds today." Five glared at him as he shrugged his arm off. Elijah tried to find anything he possibly could to change the subject, he thought to turn back to the awkward silence until he saw the man's jacket. "Towing, huh? That's, uh… cool."</p>
<p>"Here you go," the waitress said with a smile as she placed two coffees down in front of both Five and Elijah and a plate in front of the trucker.</p>
<p>"I got theirs," he said as he paid the waitress.</p>
<p>"Thanks," the Hargreeves said at the same time. Elijah took a long sip of his coffee to try to wake him up a bit so he could properly process the craziness that's been today. "You must know your way around the city then, huh?" Five asked the man.</p>
<p>"I hope so. I've been driving it for twenty years," he replied, looking up from his newspaper.</p>
<p>"Good. I need an address."</p>
<p>Elijah was too busy drowning himself in social media that he didn't hear what address Five was looking for, the only reason he snapped out of the trance was the ringing bell on the diner door. When he turned around, he saw the truck driver walking out to his tow truck to move on for the night. Five let out another sigh as he folded the napkin up neatly before putting it in his jacket pocket.</p>
<p>"What the hell was that about?" Elijah asked him.</p>
<p>"Don't worry about-" before Five could finish his sentence the door rang again, he set his unfinished coffee down so he could prepare what was to come. He watched in the bell that was sitting on the counter as a small handful of people began walking up to the Hargreeves, two of which were pointing their guns at the brothers. "Hm. That was fast," he said casually while Elijah had wide eyes not sure what was going on.</p>
<p>"Should I worry now?" Elijah whispered.</p>
<p>"No… but I thought I'd have more time before they found me."</p>
<p>"Okay…" one of the men holding a gun at them started to say in a calm voice, "so let's all be professional about this, yeah?" Five gave a small nod, acting as though he was going to cooperate with them. "On your feet and come with us. They want to talk."</p>
<p>They? Who were they? Who could possibly be after Five? None of this was making sense to Elijah, he wanted to grab his brother and get the hell out of there, but he knew they wouldn't get very far, not with all the gunmen they had in the small diner.</p>
<p>"Five…" Elijah hissed quietly.</p>
<p>"I've got nothing to say," Five told the man, ignoring his brother. He looked down at the utensils that were lying down next to his coffee cup.</p>
<p>"It doesn't have to go this way. You think I want to shoot a kid? Go home with that on my conscience?"</p>
<p>Five didn't look up from the counter, it appeared as though he was weighing his options. Elijah knew better than that, though, he knew that Five wouldn't go down so easily, at least without a fight. He may be mentally fifty-eight but the fighting spirit within him never died out. Five took a quick glance at his brother, mentally telling him what he was about to do, even if Elijah didn't want to get into a fight with these guys, he knew he didn't have a choice at this point. The only thing he could do was let out a defeated sigh.</p>
<p>"Well," Five started, "I wouldn't worry about that." He looked up at the man with a small smile on his face. "You won't be going home."</p>
<p>Here we go.</p>
<p>Slowly, Five grabbed the butter knife from the table before quickly transporting behind the man he'd been talking to, if they blinked they would have missed it. He jabbed the knife into the man's neck, causing him to involuntarily trigger his gun. Bullets bounced around the small diner as everyone tried to get down before they were accidentally shot. The man groaned as he hit the ground, the lights were flickering on and off, making it more difficult for the men to find their target. Great, now Elijah was apart of something he had no hand in.</p>
<p>As the men started shooting the last place Five was standing, he appeared laying across the counter in a mocking manner complete with a smirk. When they saw him there, they began to open fire, only missing when he transported away again, that didn't stop them from randomly firing though. They were so preoccupied with Five that they didn't even consider that the person with him was his brother and could do some damage as well.</p>
<p>"Hey, assholes!" Elijah said loudly through the echo of the guns blazing. He jumped from behind the counter, putting a hand over the closest man's face. From there, his hand brightened the dim room to a light blue, his bones even brighter as they were outlined from underneath his skin as he transferred the electrical surge from himself to the man. The sudden burst of ten amps running through the man's body was overkill, his face practically melted off and immediately went into cardiac arrest.</p>
<p>More shots rang out, but it wasn't towards Elijah, no, it was towards Five who had teleported outside the diner. He had knocked on the front door to get the man's attention, it took the man a moment to process what he was doing, but when he did he immediately tried taking the shot, only to miss when Five teleported again. Shots kept ringing as Five was creating chaos for the men, but Elijah was too focused on the second guy trying to stop him. It wasn't flashy, but Elijah grabbed the gun the man was holding, sending almost twenty amps across it so it would flow through the weapon to the man's hands, causing him to tremble severely from the sudden electricity.</p>
<p>With two men left, Five ran in between them. Thankfully they weren't the smartest in the bunch, they pointed their weapons at each other thinking that they were sure to catch Five this time, only to shot each other in the end when he teleported out of the way. Both men screamed as they collapsed to the floor.</p>
<p>Lights were flickering now, the only sound that could be heard was one more still gasping for air, trying to cling on to what little life he had left. Elijah stood up, panting from the fight he was forced to get involved in, he watched as Five readjusted his tie and walking towards the man. He bent down next to the man, snapping his neck as if it were no big deal. Elijah has never seen Five act so… feral before, sure he was a fighter, but it was surreal seeing what appeared to be a child taking on all these men and killing them in the process.</p>
<p>"What the fuck was that, Five?" Elijah breathed as he watched his brother pick up a large steak knife. "Whoa, what are you?"</p>
<p>"Quiet!" Five shouted at him as he rolled up his sleeve.</p>
<p>He placed his arm down on the counter with his palm facing up as he carefully began to pinpoint where he needed to cut. Elijah watched in horror as Five jabbed the knife into his arm, grunting as he was trying to get it in deep enough. He began digging around the large wound with his fingers, watching this made Elijah feel like he was going to get sick, but he couldn't turn away. Five grunted again as he pulled out a small chip from inside the wound, a light was blinking on it, a tracker of some kind?</p>
<p>"Got it," Five said out loud to nobody in particular with a smirk on his face. He finally remembered that Elijah was still there with him. "We gotta go."</p>
<p>Five didn't wait for Elijah to say anything before turning to leave with his brother following behind him. There didn't appear to be anybody else around the diner that would sneak up on them but didn't stop Elijah from taking a quick glance around. Five dropped the tracker into a puddle next to a storm drain before walking away from the diner.</p>
<p>They found him and now they weren't going to stop until they brought him in.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Run Boy Run</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Are you going to tell me what the fuck that was?" Elijah demanded, sitting in the passenger's seat once again as Five was driving down the road. Every once in a while he would turn to look in the rearview mirror to make sure nobody was chasing them. "Five!"</p><p>"Just…" Five held his hand up so he could be quiet. They needed to get somewhere safe, who knows how many of them are here after him. It'd be a bit more difficult for them to track him now since he removed the tracking device that was placed in his arm. "I'll try to explain it as best as I can."</p><p>Elijah folded his arms, kicking his feet up on the car's dashboard. "Go on."</p><p>"Not now. Gotta get somewhere safe."</p><p>He scoffed. "Take us back home then." Five shook his head, taking a sharp right, almost causing Elijah to hit his head against the window. "Or… don't."</p><p>"They'll look for me there."</p><p>"You sound crazy." Five laughed at him, if only he knew the extent of what was going on here, he wouldn't say that. "Are you going to tell me where we're going?"</p><p>"It doesn't matter," Five said as he slammed on the breaks, putting the car in park, "we're here." Elijah peered out the window, they were now parked in front of a small, run-down looking apartment building that was squished between two larger buildings. Five motioned him to follow him, letting out a sigh, Elijah knew he was in too deep and should stick with him to make sure nothing happened to him. The moment he stepped out of the car, Five grabbed his arm, and in a blink of an eye, they were inside one of the rooms in the apartment building.</p><p>While Five was completely fine from the short distance transport, Elijah didn't feel the same way. It felt as though the world was spinning around him, almost like a vertigo times ten. He had to sit down on the floor with his head in his hands before he ended up getting sick in this poor person's apartment. What was he thinking? Were they robbing people now? Was this what it came down to?</p><p>"A warning would've been nice," Elijah muffled through his hands.</p><p>"The world comes without warnings, time to get used to it," Five told him as checked the windows before he took a seat on the chair next to him.</p><p>"We can't just break into somebody's place."</p><p>Five didn't say anything, he was too lost in thought on what happened tonight. They almost got him, he wanted to think he could've taken care of them on his own, but it was nice to know that Elijah was there for him whenever he needed it. Not that he would openly admit if, of course. That's something he'd always keep to himself. Even though it seemed like Five hated everyone, including his own family, that wasn't the case. His family is the only people he can trust right now.</p><p>They sat in silence for a moment before they heard footsteps and keys jingling from the other side of the front door. Elijah's head shot up and looked to Five, who didn't seem bothered, it must have been somebody he knew? Not long did the door hinges creak and slowly opened, before whoever was there had the chance to turn on the lights, Five flickered on the lamp that was sitting next to them.</p><p>"Jesus!" Vanya almost shouted, she didn't expect to see two of her brothers in her apartment that's for sure.</p><p>"You should have locks on your windows," Five told her.</p><p>"I live on the second floor," Vanya said, setting her keys down on the radiator then closing and locking the door behind her.</p><p>"Rapists can climb."</p><p>"You should invest in a spiked baseball bat," Elijah added, looking up at her with a smile, but dropped when Vanya gave him a look. "At least a crowbar."</p><p>Vanya shook her head. "You guys are so weird." She moved across the room, taking a seat on the couch looking over her brothers. She noticed two things wrong with this situation; Five had bloodstains on his white shirt, and Elijah had slight burns on his hands that occurred whenever he used his power. "What's going on?" She asked them with a serious tone.</p><p>"It's nothing," Five answered before Elijah had the chance to speak.</p><p>"Then why are you guys here?"</p><p>"Don't look at me, he kidnapped me," Elijah told her, sitting back against the couch.</p><p>Five let out a sigh before sitting forward in his seat. "I've decided you two are the only ones I can trust."</p><p>"Why?"</p><p>"Because you're ordinary," he said looking at Vanya, "and you've seen too much," he addressed to Elijah. Great, he was only in on this conversation because he wanted a cup of coffee. "And…" he started to add, "you guys are the only ones who'll listen."</p><p>"Okay…" Vanya stood up quickly, she wanted to listen to his tale, but she also couldn't stand to see them both hurt like this. She went into the small bathroom, opening the medicine cabinet, grabbing rubbing alcohol, bandages, medical tape, and antibacterial cream. That should be enough to get them cleaned up. "Here," she said as she handed Elijah a roll of bandages before sitting on the side of the couch closer to Five so she could patch him up.</p><p>Five rolled up his sleeve, seeing the blood-soaked makeshift bandage wrapped around his forearm made Vanya flinch. What did they get into that caused this much damage? She poured a bit of rubbing alcohol on a cotton ball and began gently dabbing the area.</p><p>"When I jumped forward and got stuck in the future, do you know what I found?" Five asked aloud. "I found nothing." He paused for a moment, staring off into space recalling the first moment he traveled into the future. "Absolutely nothing." He could feel the nonexistent ruble underneath his feet as his mind was taking him back to the future, the intense blaze of heat washed over him from all the fires that were around him. It felt like his throat was closing up as he remembered the smoke and dust penetrating the air. "As far as I could tell, I was the last person left alive. I never figured out what killed the human race, but… I did find something else. The date it happens." Five had to force himself out of the flashback to look between his siblings. "The world ends in eight days, and I have no idea how to stop it."</p><p>Both Vanya and Elijah were silent trying to understand what Five was going on about. What did he mean the world ends in eight days? There was no way that was something to happen in their lifetime, everything seemed to be fine. Not knowing how it happened either? That was a kick in the teeth. Either Five lost it from being gone so long or he was telling the truth, and it was difficult for them to decide which it was.</p><p>"I'll put on a pot of coffee," Vanya told them as she stood up from the couch.</p><p>"So… you're bullshitting us, right?" Elijah asked Five, who only glared at him in response. Why would he make something like this up? They were supposed to believe him, right? "Like, how can you know the world is going to end if you don't know how it ends?"</p><p>"If I knew how it ends I wouldn't be sitting around doing nothing," Five snapped at him, "that's why I came to you guys for help."</p><p>They were silent again, not sure what to say now, Elijah wanted to believe him but could've hit his head a couple of times while in the future. That, or traveling back to the present after all this time could've spun him around in the wrong direction. Whichever it was, Elijah would listen to what else he had to say if there was anything else. He's heard crazier things from his travels on tour.</p><p>Vanya came back with a tray of three coffee mugs, handing them out to her brothers before taking a seat on the couch.</p><p>"What was the future like?" She asked him.</p><p>Five scoffed, staring down at the coffee in his hands. "I survived on scraps. Canned food, cockroaches, anything I could find." He chuckled. "Y'know that rumor that Twinkies have an endless shelf life?" Both Vanya and Elijah nodded. "Well, it's total bullshit."</p><p>"I can't even imagine."</p><p>"You do whatever it takes to survive, or you die. So we adapted. Whatever the world threw at us, we found a way to overcome it."</p><p>"You keep saying 'we.' Who's we? I thought you said there weren't any humans left," Elijah wondered out loud.</p><p>"You got anything stronger?" Five asked, avoiding the question entirely.</p><p>In the kitchen, Five downed a shot of alcohol that Vanya poured for him. It felt strange to her, even though she knew Five was technically an adult he didn't seem to fit the part. She didn't want to get caught giving alcohol to someone who appeared to be thirteen.</p><p>"You guys think I'm crazy," Five accused his siblings, looking between them.</p><p>"No," they both said at the same time. "It's just…" Vanya continued, trying to find the correct words to say so she wouldn't upset him further. "It's a lot to take in."</p><p>"Exactly what don't you understand?"</p><p>Vanya looked for Elijah to help. Which, in her case, probably wasn't the best choice. "All of it," he said through a laugh. "Why didn't you just time travel back?" He knew immediately that was the wrong thing to say the way Five scoffed at him then letting out a frustrated sigh.</p><p>"Gee, wish I'd thought of that," he said sarcastically. "Time travel is a crapshoot. I went into the ice and never acorn-ed. You think I didn't try everything to get back to my family?"</p><p>"If you grew old there, y'know, in the apocalypse," Vanya started, hoping to bring the tension down, "how come you still look like a kid?"</p><p>Well, that didn't help. Five squeezed the glass he was holding onto tighter until his knuckles turned white. He moved past his siblings, setting it down on the counter with a little too much force. "I told you already," he said through his teeth. "I must have gotten the equations wrong." He grabbed the bottle of alcohol, pouring himself another drink.</p><p>"I mean, Dad always used to say that… time travel could mess up your mind. Maybe that's what's happening?"</p><p>Five whipped around quickly, moving past them. "This was a mistake, you guys are too young. Too naïve to understand!"</p><p>"No, Five…" Elijah started, watching as he moved towards the front door.</p><p>"Five, wait," Vanya called out to him, making him stop in his tracks, turning around to face her. "I haven't seen you in a long time, and I don't want to lose you again. That's all. And y'know what, it's getting late, and…" she trailed off, "I have lessons early, and I need to sleep, and I'm sure you do too. Here." She moved over towards the couch, taking one of the blankets off from the back and draping it across the couch, doing the same thing but for the chair Five was originally sitting in. "One of you will need to sleep there," she told them, "but we'll all talk in the morning again, okay? I promise. Goodnight, guys."</p><p>"'night," they both said as she made her way to her bedroom.</p><p>"I'd call the couch, but…" Elijah said as he sat down next to Five, "I feel like you're not staying the night."</p><p>Five pulled something out of his jacket pocket, whatever it was it was wrapped up in a cut-up piece of fabric. "Nope," was all he said as he unraveled whatever it was. Elijah gave him a strange look when it appeared to be a glass eye, where the hell did he get that from? "You can stay here or come with me, it's your choice." He stood up from the couch, shoving the glass eye back into his pocket.</p><p>Elijah let out a sigh, he was exhausted and just wanted to sleep, but at the same time he, couldn't in all good conscience let Five roam around by himself. He saw how armed those men were in the diner, what if they came back with something more powerful? Five needed backup and Elijah supposed that was going to be him.</p><p>"What about Vanya?"</p><p>"She'll be fine. Doesn't believe me anyways."</p><p>Rolling his eyes, Elijah stood up from the couch, accepting the fact he wasn't going to be getting much sleep, if at all. "After you."</p><p>Five carefully opened the front door, the hinges once again creaking, but they managed to slip out without Vanya finding out.</p><p>Onto the next adventure.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey, guys! I appreciate all the kudos and reads on my little story here, I love you all so much! <br/>This is the last chapter I have typed up, so I'll be going on a bit of a hiatus while I get some more chapters written up. With more hours at work and school it's been a bit tricky to keep up, but we'll get back there. &lt;3 Thank you, and have a great day/night.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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